Now there
are two kinds of alkaloids which are sometimes called vegetable
and animal. Moreover, there is a large class of which we are
learning much which are called the ptomaines--from ptoma, a
corpse. Ptomaine poisoning, as every one knows, results when we
eat food that has begun to decay.
"Ptomaines are chemical compounds of an alkaloidal nature formed
in protein substances during putrefaction. They are purely
chemical bodies and differ from the toxins. There are also what
are called leucomaines, formed in living tissues, and when not
given off by the body they produce auto-intoxication.
"There are more than three score ptomaines, and half of them are
poisonous. In fact, illness due to eating infected foods is much
more common than is generally supposed. Often there is only one
case in a number of those eating the food, due merely to that
person's inability to throw off the poison. Such cases are
difficult to distinguish. They are usually supposed to be gastro-
enteritis. Ptomaines, as their name shows, are found in dead
bodies.
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